There is a need in hospitals, athletic clubs, health clubs, rehabilitation facilities, health care facilities, hotels, and in fact even in the home environment for a low-cost, disposable foot protector.
There are presently available low-cost disposable cellulose paper slippers for this purpose, but these slippers do not provide an adequate barrier against bacteria and other foreign materials, and also are degradable when subjected to significant moisture, such as found in the bathing and shower environment.
There have, in the past, been provided a plurality of upperless footwear for a variety of purposes that include various attaching devices to other footwear, such as stockings.
The following is a list of United States Patents disclosing these footwear devices:
The Tranmal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,746,173, shows a vacuum-held sandal that has a plurality of suction cups, such as at 8, in the top surface that lock the out-sole 1, 4, to the user""s feet.
The Saffir, U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,982, shows a high heel shoe with a plurality of magnets, such as at 3, that attach the shoe to the user""s foot with a plurality of ferro-magnetic elements that are bonded to the user""s sock or foot.
The Price, U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,350, shows a strapless sandal that has a plurality of hook elements shown at 18 that snag on the user""s stockings and hold the sandals to the feet.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in detachable footwear and provide a low-cost, readily disposable, protective foot pad composite and its method of manufacture.
In accordance with the present invention, a disposable protective foot pad composite and its method of manufacture are provided in an attempt to produce a very low-cost, mass producible, disposable pad readily attachable to the bottom of the human foot and one that provides an effective barrier to bacteria and moisture.
Toward these ends, the present disposable protective foot pad composite includes a planar foam base having an outer configuration conforming to a generic foot shape common to both the left and right foot, with a double-sided film attached on one side to the base with a protective sheet over the other side of the film. The double-sided film has a layer of adhesive on both sides and a protective sheet over both layers of adhesive. One of these protective sheets is removed prior to adhesion of the film to the foam base.
The foam pad composite is manufactured by feeding a web of planar elastomeric foam in contact with a double-sided film after one of two protective sheets is removed from one side of the film, and thereafter simultaneously die-cutting a plurality of protective foot pads from the foam web, film, and protective sheet composite.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description.